We exist to bring smiles into the world.

In everything we do, we try to connect. The arts help shape personal and global culture. They provide clues to tackle challenges and engage in improving the state of the world, whether in a small neighborhood or on a grand scale. We trust in the potential of experience to elicit more empathy, birth new ideas, shift our perceptions and lead to action. We understand that the role of art is to make discomfort more comfortable.

We create art and performance and use it to assist others, whether they be homeless veterans, marginalized families or other artists struggling to do their work.

Since 1994, the Living Arts Corporation has produced 50 original theatrical performances, performed in over 500 schools around the nation, distributed 10,000 + books to rural children, supplied living and studio space to 15 visual artists, hosted 50 art exhibitions, provided grants for research and creative projects, entertained the public with 20 ft. puppets commissioned from Carnival artists in Trinidad, West Indies, and partnered with major retail chains to deliver over $600,000 of home goods to marginalized families, veterans and people in crisis. In 2015 we conceived of the Soul Shoe Project to assist in raising awareness and engagement to stop the silence around the fact that a child dies a violent death every 5 minutes.

We believe in the innate human desire to give. 100% of our proceeds go directly into our projects.

We are a small 501 (c)(3) charitable organization registered as The Mode Theatre Living Arts Corporation, DBA Living Arts Corporation.

Soul Shoe Project - A child dies violently every 5 minutes. A community folk art project to bring awareness to children living in danger. Ordinary people making extraordinary shoes in honor of a child that died violently. We show the world the shoes, exhibit them in public places, and quietly engage with our hands & hearts to stop the silence.

Unicef: Violence kills child every five minutes

In its report “Children in Danger: Act to End Violence against Children” – published to mark the launch of the Children in Danger campaign – the organization reveals that the vast majority of children are killed outside warzones and that physical, sexual and emotional abuse is widespread with millions of children unsafe in their homes, schools and communities. Some 345 children could die from violence each day in the next year, unless governments act.

The report also finds that:

Children who are victims of violence have brain activity similar to soldiers exposed to combat.

A third of children who are victims of violence are likely to develop long-lasting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Those living in poverty are more likely to be victims of violence, wherever they live in the world.

Over 75% of child deaths due to violence each day are the result of interpersonal violence, rather than conflict.

In the foreword to the report, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, a long term campaigner for justice in the UK, writes:

“This epidemic of violence against children feeds off silence. It grows when we soundlessly accept that this is just the way things are. Every five minutes, somewhere across the globe, a family loses a son or daughter to violence. This is intolerable – it must stop.”

Details for our Kickstarter campaign and The Soul Shoe Project will be announced soon.

Reject the Silence. Walk in the kid’s shoes. Think. Engage. Put your hands into your thoughts. Make a shoe statement. Transform a shoe. Share your shoes. Help wake us up.

Children experience extreme violence in everyday life, everywhere.

Most of of the deaths occur outside war zones.

Millions of young people under the age of 20 feel unsafe in their homes, schools and communities.

About 75 percent of the estimated 345 violent deaths that occur daily happen in countries at peace.

345 children under 20 could die from violence each day in the next year unless governments around the world take action.

Children living in poverty are more likely to be the vicims of violence.

Only 41 countries have an explicit ban on violence against children.

No nation is currently able to provide children with the full protection they need.

Widespread international action to end all forms of violence, including abuse, exploitation, trafficking and torture, is desperately — and immediately — needed.

75% of child deaths due to violence each day are the result of interpersonal violence, rather than conflict.

Nearly 10,000 American children are injured or killed by guns every year.

“The wake-up call is to say this is happening in your backyard, this is happening around the corner, this is happening across the ocean and we need to take charge and do something about it.” Susan Bissell, global head of child protection for Unicef